Golf has been a very popular game for many years now. In addition to playing on an actual golf course, golfers wishing to improve their skills often practice at a driving range, especially when practicing their tee shots. Normally, practicing golfers must repeatedly bend or stoop down to select a ball and to set it on a tee for each practice shot. This can be tiring, and interrupts the golfer's rhythm in repeating his practice shots. Further, it makes a practice session take longer, a disadvantage from the point of view of the proprietor of the golfing range. Automatic teeing would bring significant advantage to all parties.
Numerous systems and devices for automatic teeing have been patented. U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,176 to Lipson discloses a “Pneumatically Operated Golf Ball Tee” in which the golf ball is levitated by a continuous, upward, positive air flow from a hole or tube in the practice station. Since, however, it is not possible to pneumatically support a golf ball without some rotation or positional oscillation of the ball, it does not provide the desired stable target for proper golf practice. U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,383 to Brown discloses an “Apparatus For Placing A Golf Ball On A Tee” using negative air pressure or vacuum to pick up and hold a golf ball on a practice tee and stand the tee and ball up for a practice shot. While fully automated, this apparatus employs a four way valve and intricate pneumatics to control its operation. It is likely to be complicated and costly in practice. Both systems require an air pump, which is likely to be noisy and not conducive to the concentration golfers require for practice and play.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,537 to Adam, entitled “Teeing Device” discloses an apparatus for semi-automatically teeing up golf balls utilizing very low air pressure in order to create a positive air pressure so as to elevate a hollow tee supported by and connected to a flexible, thin walled inflatable chamber located within a recess. A hollow tee, on which a ball is supported when the device is used, is affixed to a top portion of the chamber, by gluing or other permanent means.
The use of an inflatable chamber as proposed by Adam, causes a number of problems, among which are the difficulty of replacing the hollow tee, the difficulty of disassembly of the device for cleaning and maintenance, the tendency of the chamber to become flooded with water when used in outdoor ranges in wet climates and the inoperability of the device when even slightly flooded, and the additional difficulty of draining the chamber in order to render it usable. Furthermore, while Adam provides means for adjusting the height of the tee, access to the height adjustment means requires removal of the artificial turf beneath which the device is installed.
Adam also provides an air supply from beneath the chamber, such that the air supply is susceptible to the ingress of water. This arrangement also transmits noise due to the acoustic energy of the flowing air, which results in a less than aesthetically pleasing experience for a user.